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The Different Types of SEO For Your Small Business

About 68% of experiences online start with a search. As a startup business, you know how important it is to get found online. The vast majority of people look up information and find services through search engines.

SEO is the way to get your business to appear at the top of organic search results. It’s hard to keep up because of SEO changes and there are so many types of SEO. You can reach your right target audience with the help of a digital marketing company that provides SEO services in a cost-effective way and build brand loyalty to a larger market.

Keep reading to find out and get actionable SEO tips and tricks so you can improve search results.

Types of Search Engines

Most people think of Google as the one and only search engine. Google’s search engine dominates the search space, but there are other search engines to think about as you begin your SEO campaign.

There are other search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGo.

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There are other sites that are almost as big as Google and function like search engines. For instance, if you want to learn more about a product, chances are you’ll go to Amazon.com.

If you want fitness inspiration or a quick recipe, you can turn to Google. You can also turn to Pinterest, which is a visual search engine.

What if you need to find a video to show you how to unclog your kitchen sink? You’d do a quick search on YouTube.

You need to understand these types of search engines because the same SEO rules apply. You don’t just list a product on Amazon.

You have to make sure you have the right keywords in your headline and product description.

Types of SEO Targets

The types of SEO are also broken down into target audiences for businesses. These are categorized into local and global SEO.

Local SEO is for local businesses, such as retailers, landscapers, attorneys, contractors, and restaurants.

Global SEO is appropriate for eCommerce businesses and service providers that have clients all over the country.

There are minor differences in search engine optimization methods to get local search results vs. global results.

Local SEO relies heavily on getting into the top three business listings with a map of the business’ locations. You’d create directory listings and backlinks from local and authoritative sources.

Global SEO is mostly about maintaining an active online presence with the right keywords.

Types of Search Engine Optimization Tasks

Search engine optimization is often broken down into two categories. These categories are the specific tasks you’d perform to improve SEO rankings.

On-page SEO is generally something that you control. It’s related to anything that happens on your website.

The keywords used, site performance, mobile-friendliness, security, and content are all on your website. The tags and descriptions are on-page SEO as well.

Off-page SEO relates to anything outside of your site. Directory listings, social media, backlinks, are critical to improving your SEO rankings.

Why is off-site SEO so important? It has a lot to do with the history of Google’s algorithm. The founders wanted to find a way to set different sites apart in search results.

This would lead to trustworthy results for users instead of spammers and malicious sites. The best way to do that was through PageRank.

PageRank is the algorithm that ranks sites based on the value of backlinks. Let’s say that you have a link to your site from Forbes or The Washington Post.

These are high-quality authoritative sites that carry a higher value than a small blog. Get a backlink from a high-quality site, and your rankings will climb.

Types of SEO Methods

Some SEO companies try to game the system. They know enough about Google’s algorithm to come up with quick ways to get a site to the top of search results in a few days.

This is usually because they use black hat SEO methods. Stuffing a keyword in a page dozens of times is a good example of black hat SEO.

This method usually goes against Google’s terms and conditions. Your site can get penalized if you’re caught using black hat SEO.

White hat SEO falls within Google’s guidelines. You focus on publishing quality content that people want to read and share. You optimize each page for the proper headings and keywords.

You also make sure that you get links from other relevant, quality sites. This is a long-term approach, but that’s what good search engine optimization is all about.

SEO Tips and Tricks

Where do you even begin to get higher SEO rankings? Start off with a baseline assessment and see where your site ranks now. You can use this tool to see which keywords perform the best and drive traffic to your site.

There are other tools that you can use to audit the technical side of your site. Run your site through site speed tools to get a baseline measurement of performance, too.

Pick the SEO target such as a local audience or a global audience. You’ll then rely on white hat SEO methods.

Start with on-page SEO, since those are things under your control. It sets the foundation so when you focus on off-site SEO, the results become exponential.

Improve SEO Rankings Today!

SEO is one of the most important ways to market a startup business. It’s easy to get overwhelmed because there are so many types of SEO to navigate.

We just showed you the different types of SEO so you can start your journey to climb to the top of search results. This gives your business more traffic and sales.

Did you enjoy learning about SEO? You’ll love the other articles to help startups thrive. Find them in the blog today!

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